and other basic rights that would help moderate the creation and spread of hate speech, misinformation, and disinformation.79 Simultaneously, supposedly multilateral efforts to assist a region that faces increasingly dire circumstances have gone astray. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (“ASEAN”) remains to be a tempering and effective force to its members’ restrained approaches to refugees and forced displacement, as well as rapid degradation in human rights and fundamental freedoms. A case in point, ASEAN still avoids confronting Myanmar’s human rights and humanitarian crisis with its continued commitment to the Five-Point Consensus, which remains to be implemented, and support for the Burmese military-run pilot repatriation project despite Myanmar not having conditions that are conducive to the safe, voluntary, dignified, and sustainable return of the Rohingya refugees.80 ASEAN’s post-2021 response on Myanmar follows that of decades spanning beyond it, during which it attempted to resolve successive crises in Rakhine State with its Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management and other supposedly humanitarian efforts over potentially coercive measures for investigations, justice, and accountability.81 Perhaps ASEAN is acting in line with its “non-interference principle” – giving it no option for becoming an alternative. Nonetheless, it is clear that ASEAN, in its status quo, cannot be relied upon to develop policies to comprehensively ensure the rights of those seeking refuge. Without an effective refugee protection and human rights framework, breeding grounds for targeted atrocities against those seeking asylum, including Rohingya boat people, take deeper root. Such an environment has been observed in various ways in the following countries. In INDONESIA, among many, factors of unregulated waves of online misinformation and faltering levels of assistance to key local governments and organizations have jointly contributed to a climate hostile to Rohingya refugees. The current context – the recent spate of anti-Rohingya attacks in Aceh – is in stark difference to that of the previous years leading up to and following the 2017 attacks of genocide; during that time, in a country hosting the world’s largest Muslim population, series of demonstrations supporting Rohingya and other related acts of solidarity had been widely observed. And, until recently, Acehnese fishermen had rescued Rohingya at sea and Acehnese social services agencies 79 “Asia: Regional Leadership Needed on Human Rights: Worsening Repression Puts Rights at Risk at Home and Abroad,” Human Rights Watch, January 11, 2024, https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/01/11/asia-regional-leadership-needed-human-rights. 80 “Chairman’s Statement of the 43rd ASEAN Summit,” The ASEAN Secretariat, September 6, 2023, https://asean.org/chairmans-statement-of-the-43rd-asean-summit/; “ASEAN Leaders’ Review and Decision on The Implementation of The Five-Point Consensus,” The ASEAN Secretariat, September 5, 2023, https://asean.org/asean-leaders-review-and-decision-on-the-implementation-of-the-five-point-consensus-2/ 81 Wai Wai Nu, “Southeast Asian countries should recognize the slaughter in Myanmar for what it is,” The Washington Post, April 23, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/04/23/southeast-asian-countries-should-recognize-slaughter-mya nmar-what-it-is/; “ASEAN and the Rohingya Crisis since 2017: Dynamics, Challenges, and New Avenues for a More Effective Regional Response in Post-Coup Myanmar.” 18